falchunt:
there are a lot of loe's - more than officers in the military and a lot of officers in the military don't use a handgun
i asked my son, who is going to iraq in the fall and he hasn't been issued one yet

I feel like with LEO's carrying a fairly wide variety of handguns, including some berettas, it seems like this would be leaning towards beretta's favor. I realize that not everyone in the military carries a handgun, if that were the case this would be a wasteful thread.

My buddy is finishing his last week of the Police Academy and he just got his gun issued.. he got a glock 17 .. he said you can qualify for a .45 caliber but only a few people in the academy got qualified for that he said you have to meet the guidelines for whatever your trying to get issued

Even without this instance, I would have said glock would be the number 1 for police officers.. as far as military.. I have no idea

"The M9 is the standard pistol of the U.S. Army and Air Force Security Forces, and the M9A1 is the standard pistol of the U.S. Marines.[6] A large number of M9s and M9A1s was ordered in 2006. During the 2009 SHOT Show, Beretta announced it had received a US$220 million contract for the delivery of 450,000 M9s and M9A1s to the U.S. military, within a five-year span."

"Many estimates place Glock's market share among U.S. police departments at over 60% (based on total number of guns sold, not percentage of departments). Glock's website states their pistols are "...in use in 65% of law enforcement agencies."

The military placed an order for 450,000 Beretta pistols to be filled out within 4 years. They do not get rid of all of their older models. My brother is at Ft. Bragg right now, and just told me that the M9's that they use there are old as dirt, and have been abused. Based on this, one can only assume that the Military is using far more than the 450,000 M9's they sold recently. Using that logic, I would think that Beretta is more widely used between LEO's and military.

For Law Enforcement which out numbers the Military I believe that it is the Glock. My department issues the Sig Pro 2340 DAO in 357 Sig. The Sig 226 In 9mm +P+ is issued by an adjoining town while the bigger town north of us issues 40 S&W Glocks. The State Police issue 4506 Smith & Wessons in .45 acp. Several posters Mentioned PROs but I do not feel that most Police officers considers themselves Gun Professionals unless they are on SWAT or SERT Teams or Attached to the Firearms Training function. For the Line Officer the Firearm is just a thing he carries just in case. I have told by officers that a good pen is more important to them than their duty weapon.
The Glock has a big following as it is easy to carry and simple to use and reliable even following missuse. Many of the Gun Pros do us the 1911 Colt design.

I don't subscribe to that mindset that my pen is more important than the duty weapon, perhaps what they meant to say is their pen is used more OFTEN than their weapon and that is a good thing

I go to the range regularly and just because you can only see one gun on an Officer's hip don't assume that it is his only gun or weapon

I chose SIG, I didn't want to spoil the fun by googling. Obviously I was wrong.... lol. But one thing I am noticing is that alot of LEO's are turning from the Glocks. No facts to support my claim, just from what I've been reading on various forums and media agencies.

Glock standards have been held far and above its competition for years. Seems alot of the more reputable companies are closing the gap.

My local PD in Phenix City, AL uses .40 Glocks. Across the river in Columbus, GA the PD uses Smith & Wesson M&Ps.

Federal law enforcement is a mixture of Sig and Glock these days. When I did my internship with U.S. Probation over the summer, the standard issue for a USPO is a .40 Glock, choice between the G22 and G23.

"I personally think we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain."--Jane Wagner
"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."
-Isaac Asimov

Military and LEO missions are different; therefore sidearm choices vary accordingly. Allocated resources and political realities differ widely as well. Having been both over the years I'll tell you what I've observed and learned through research.

Most military have the Beretta 92FS. It is the default issue. Some high speed low drag types can choose something else, but those aren't very prevalent just the most talked about.

Most LEOs carry a glock. It is a good sidearm and allows LEOs to purchase them very inexpensively compared to others.

The rest is simply rationalization for someone's favorite carry typically. Personally, both are good, but I don't carry either one due to personal preference, experience and training.

The leader on the board is Glock. And after buying one a little while back and taking it to the range, and getting to finally see for my self what a Glock can do. I can see why there are so many Glock fans.
I do wish that Glocks had a manual safety on them. Much like the XD45 that was set up with a thumb safety.

GLOCKS handsdown. No other handgun in recent history has taken the world by storm.
I know 1911 are the cat's meow but...that's American cats that do the most meowing.

LOL I do love my 1911. It has a big round but has the smoothest trigger and lowest felt recoil of all my pistols. Big part of the reason why I want a Para 18-9.
Really want to see what a 9mm coming out of that old war horse 1911 system will be like.
I had a super sweet Kimber Grand Raptor 2, and it cost me quite a bit. I took it out shooting once in all the years I had it. I forced my self that one time. It was so pretty and cost so much I did not want to mess it up by shooting it.
Finally, after it sitting in my closet for so long I took it back to my ffl and traded it on a XDm 9mm and a revolver and several hundred dollars. Got a good return out of it and I actually shoot the guns I have now.
My lesson learned. Never buy a gun that is so expensive and nice looking that you will not want to shoot it.

That is true......you can sound real smart on the net and not ever experianced what you are talking about. Some posters believe their opinions are facts, and think if they cut and paste a picture or a link they gain credibility. They not only ignore the facts but justify opinion with the opinion of others. You gotta love the internet!

Most of the cops I see waddling around have berettas or sigs. I personally fear for our military knowing that they have to use berettas. The H&K usp .40 shows them to be the chinese quality nonsense that they are. Beretta owners are usually too cheap or high on drugs to have ever shot a usp, and wouldn't know quality if it tasted like donuts.